Sankeyes, I had the 502. Yes the H/K does sound better than the 502, but it should for the difference in price, but I'll say also that I really liked that little Onkyo. That so far has been the easiest to learn, the manual is very understandable even for dips like myself.

To me, there is more of a jump in sound difference from the Rotels to the H/K than there was from the Onkyo to the H/K. I do like the 635 though.

I wasn't looking to start the whole "can you hear the sound of amps" thing again. I've never gotten involved in that discussion in the past.

Yet, when someone moves to a "higher level" amp and, with the same speakers/room says he hears a difference, I'm interested. It's not blind A/B, and it's not scientific, but I'm interested nonetheless.

I'm a skeptic at heart...athiest... the whole bit. But I really think my old NAD separates sounded better than other receivers I had used at the time.... so I'm not closed minded to an amp sounding better. I'm just trying to get at what it IS that makes some people perceive it as better. Quicker transient response, more peak power (even for only milliseconds), a non-flat frequency response that imparts a warmth or a flat one that offers neutrality beyond other amps?

To me, there is more of a jump in sound difference from the Rotels to the H/K

Given that you doubled the power, it should sound a little louder at lower volumes and of course with more watts, you should be able to get more db out of the M60's (3 or so)................but, yeah here it comes, I own the HK630 and spent some time with the RB1080 and I honestly thought they sounded close to each other. The Rotel has more snap when the volume gets up there but overall when I did my side by side, I thought the HK630 held it's own real well given it's just a box and not a separate. Now that is not a slam on the Rotel, if anything it's a compliment. I have owned a ton of receivers and have yet to hear anything in the $1000.00 to $1500.00 range come close to the HK. To be brutally honest, anytime I have A/B'd HK and Rotel, I have a hard time picking them out if the difference in wattage is factored into the overall volume level and if the system is running in pure direct. The one thing I did notice is that the Rotel has better control. Hard to explain what the hell that means, but some of you here will get it.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Rotel..................a lot. I looked hard at a few of there 5 channel amps but I could never get one for the price I was willing to pay, so I looked at something else.

Anyway, I think you have a very nice 2 channel system in the works and when you spend some more time with it, I would be curious to hear more detailed thoughts on why you feel the Rotel is better then the HK. You may peak my curiosity again and I may have to run to my dealer and borrow another RB1080 and do the side by side all over again!

Mark, you are asking the wrong person if you were asking me...all I can tell you is that I have a less than 2 week old H/K 635 with a less than day old Rotel 1080 amp/1070 preamp and I can audiably tell a difference with the very same speaker used for both.

I believe the A/V HK 635 will do it's job just fine with the 60s HT system in the den and I equally believe the Rotel/80s will fit my bill to an absolute 'T' in the main and larger living area. If not, I'll ship the 80s back before the 30 day limit and look elsewhere, I've never been bashful in that department.

Scientific data? Couldn't tell you a thing about it, but I will say my wife and I both feel that the Rotels sound better than the HK running the 60s. As long as I feel like a great choice was in both directions, that's all that matters to me...and my wife!